An authorized laboratory that is already operational
According to a report by IT之家 on November 14, the International NearLink Alliance announced that the StarLink Smart Home Appliances (Shanghai) Innovation Lab, known as the StarLink Smart Home Appliances OpenLab, passed verification with a high score and was officially accredited. It is the fourth OpenLab authorized by the alliance and the first dedicated to the smart home appliance sector. According to the source, the laboratory is already operational.
The significance of the news lies in the fact that the initiative is not an isolated research center but an open platform designed to cover the entire supply chain, from chip to finished product. The alliance describes NearLink technology as a short-range wireless communication system with low latency, high reliability, positioning precision, resistance to interference, and the ability to manage multiple connections simultaneously.
The facility and the parties involved
The laboratory was built and is managed by the Shanghai Qingpu Xinglian NearLink Promotion Center, jointly founded by nine entities: Midea, Shanghai HiSilicon, Hangzhou Yongxie, the Shanghai National Engineering Research Center of Digital Television, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Hefei Hengxinji, Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Baoye, Shanghai Bilu Electronics, and the Yangtze River Delta AI+ Joint Innovation Center. According to the source, this composition covers the chip, module, finished-product, university-research, and local industrial-platform segments.
The alliance claims that NearLink's data transmission, sensing, positioning, and flexible networking capabilities have already generated new use cases in the home appliance sector: directional control for televisions, communication-sensing integration for white goods, and unified networking for routers. These are statements by the alliance, not independently measured results.
Three-phase roadmap and staffing
The laboratory has defined a three-stage development path. In the startup phase, through the end of 2026, it plans internal organization and rules, basic activities, and incubation of solutions with partners. In the platform phase, between 2027 and 2028, the goal is to build a center that combines technology innovation services, testing capabilities, and industrial promotion, fostering NearLink adoption in eastern China and the implementation of industrial policies. From 2029, the sustainability phase will begin, with a stable R&D team and continuous innovation and incubation activities.
On the human resources front, the laboratory has more than ten technicians from member units working part-time across three lines: solution development, testing laboratory, and industrial ecosystem development. The source indicates that seven full-time staff are expected to be hired by the end of 2026. Academic experts such as Professors He Dazhi and Guan Yunfeng of Shanghai Jiao Tong University are also involved, having long participated in standards-setting.
What remains to be verified
The material does not provide data on investment amounts, the results of tests already carried out, or which commercial products will actually incorporate the technology. The information comes from the alliance and the news source and has not been independently verified. The timeline given for future phases remains a stated plan, not an achieved result.
